About FoodMayhem

In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.

I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!

Recipes that include dried apricot

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The delay in posting was due to technical difficulties. Yes, it’s quite technically impossible to overcome food coma, at least for me. Has anyone found a cure? Passover Seder on Monday night and Tuesday night is the probably cause, but I can’t promise to refrain from this dangerous activity. Isn’t there like a morning after pill for over-whelming meat consumption? I guess Korean BBQ for lunch didn’t help. In all seriousness, Passover Seder is full of wonderful foods that are symbolic and carry on the traditions. Without getting into too much detail (which I probably can’t on this subject) Haroseth Balls (sometimes Charoset) represent the mortar used when Jews were enslaved in Egypt.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Are you busy but love to entertain? Do you have last minute guests popping in? Do you just like to make everything ahead of time? Do you just love easy desserts? (Do you like to ask questions?) I am so excited to share this dessert if any of those apply to you.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Rugelach, not to be confused with arugula (a lovely peppery green), is a traditional Jewish pastry. To pronounce correctly, you should sound like you’re coughing up phlegm at the end.

Rugelach is the perfect thing to make this time of year. First of all, you can use it for Hannukah or Christmas because everyone loves it. You can make a huge batch and bring to both houses like us, one Jewish (sorta), one not. My Chinese family got addicted to rugelach from eating the giant boxes from Costco, which are dangerously good. Secondly, in December, fresh fruits are not very good in New York, so jams, preserves, and dried fruits are what’s in season.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I found a recipe for Apricot Beignets and thought it looked great, except for the chocolate dipping sauce. Despite usually preferring dark chocolate, I just thought white chocolate was a much better fit for these beignets.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

We had Caroline and Eddie over yesterday to break in our new waffle maker, the Villa Ware 2010 Uno Pro Belgian Gravity Waffler. It heats up quickly and makes good waffles even if you don’t follow instructions, Lon! It’s also easy to clean, mostly because not much sticks too it. I did spray it with PAM before heating it.

We made a standard flavored waffle so that we could go all out on the toppings. We had pure maple syrup, caramel sauce, a powdered sugar shaker, and sweet cream butter on hand. I made a raspberry sauce out of frozen raspberries that I thawed, sweetened, pureed, and strained. Next a Apricot Apple Compote: